(Closed) Booking a photographer long distance

I’ve narrowed my photographer search down to three choices. They’re all in similar price ranges and all come recommended via both this site and people on theknot.com. All of them also responded quickly and cheerily to my email inquiries. They’ve also all got similar styles.

The biggest issue, then, is that I’m planning (and therefore interviewing) long distance. One photographer has examples of a couple of full wedding days on her site, but the others just have bits and pieces from different events. Would it be kosher to email and ask if there’s a way for me to electronicically view a full day from start to finish? If that’s not possible, what would other brides who have done this suggest as far as questions to ask and things to see?

I’m not going to be back in my home city until mid-July and I’m afraid these folks will be booked up by then, so I’d really like to book somebody before I could meet with them face-to-face.

That’s what I did! So hopefully that was kosher. =P I had to book my photog from long distance, too, so I emailed back and forth with a few of my favorites. One of them offered to let me see a full wedding from beginning to end, so I asked the other ones if they would let me see that, too. None of them seemed to have any problems with it. The worst case is they say "no" and you can just cross them off the list to make the decision easier! =)

definitely call/email and ask. when we were on the hunt, one of the books we are reading suggested making sure you see at least one complete event. it’s relatively easy to cobble together serval fab shots from many events, but you want to see how things go for one. It will be a good way to narrow down the options!

I think you should definitely look at a full wedding. I mean if you’re a photographer it’s hard not to get 40 pretty good photos out of thousands.

There was one photographer recommended on theknot and this board had the most amazing formals, and his website was pretty cool with both formals and candids. But my cousin had that photographer, and yes her artistic type formals were pretty good, but I noticed that the candids of her ceremony and reception were mediocre. Colors weren’t very vivid, composition wasn’t very tight. So it definitely helps to see how one photographer would shoots on average, vs the best of his porfolio.

I had to do this as well. I had my photographer (snail) mail me a completed album, as well as a proof album (which had all the photos from a full day). We looked through those for a couple of days and decided he was the one. Still never met him! Haha. If they can do it electronically, then even better! I asked for more pictures, because he only had examples of this absolutely stunning bride, and I wanted to see some more "normal" looking people. Haha. And also asked for the proofs. It’s a completely reasonable request!

I have EVERY wedding I’ve shot this year up on my blog. Why? Because I’m proud of EVERY wedding I shoot. If your photographer doesn’t have the same thing going, there is likely a reason… not a good one.

Choose a photographer who POSTS many full weddings – not just sends you one.

Many photographers will have password protected links to full wedding galleries for their clients. Definitely ask your prospective photographers if you can see a couple of complete weddings, which in my opinion should have at least 250 images each, preferably a lot more.

Looking at more than one will give you a good idea on what kind of images you can expect. But at the same time, realize that all weddings are different so if your wedding is in a church and the reception in a dark ballroom, then ask to see samples of similar weddings, not beach weddings with outdoor receptions! Hope that helps!

It’s so important to see a complete body of work. Anyone really can take a dozen good pictures of a dozen different events. You want to see if this person’s style matches what you’re looking for, if they can capture the right mood in every photo, and how their candid/photojournalistic vs posed photos compare.

You might also want to ask for a video chat with them via webcam. Phone calls are great and all, but you get a better vibe from someone when you can read their body language and look into their eyes. Someone might be fine on the phone and on paper, but totally creep you out when you see them.